Deception
by SushiandPickles
Summary: Sex. Violence. Tony Stark. What more do you need? Erm. . . An entertaining, deep, mind-blowing, interesting, enjoyable, amusing, funny, heart-wrenching story? There's that I guess. R
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

"You should have left me at uni," Steph murmured. She was referring to Cambridge University; only during holidays would she leave to spend time with her parents, but she much preferred to stay and she was sure they wished that as well.

"We are spending the holidays as a family, okay?" her mother stated. They were driving home, to Chelsea, to spend a week for Christmas and the New Year. Steph's father was driving the Audi A6, while his wife sat in the front passenger and his daughter sat behind him.

"What family? We have never been a family. What makes you think that after sixteen years we are going to be one now?" her parents were silent. She was perfectly correct. They had never been a family, always disconnected for some reason. Her mother and father never wanted children, it was the wish of her grandmother to keep her. When Steph was five years old, she passed away leaving her parents clueless on how to bring her up.

Every day Steph felt as if she was a mistake, as if her existence was a drawback to her parents. She hated herself for that. Her existence.

She felt like an unwanted burden, a cancer they so desparately were trying to find a cure for.

When she was eleven years old, she wanted her parents to be free of the disease that she was.

One day, in the middle of a Science lesson, she stared with blank eyes at the pencil she held. Everyone else was busy writing their own essays on Alexander Flemming, discoverer of Penicillin. Killer of bacteria, of disease.

_Why do I have to ruin their lives? Why do I even exist?_

Satisfaction consumed her as she inserted the pencil into her left wrist and started pulling it closer to her elbow. She could not feel the pain, only happiness as she watched the blood quickly ooze out of the wound.

To her dismay, another student had seen her and screamed. The others quickly followed suit and soon the whole classroom erupted in panic.

Knowing she had little time left, she pulled out the pencil and started on the other wrist.

_Faster! Faster!_ Her mind screamed at her hand.

She only had a few seconds at her right wrist before the female teacher ripped the pencil from her grip.

"No!" she shouted at her. The teachers eyes blazed with confusion, shock and panic like everyone else.

_Why? Why do you want them to suffer even more?_

The blood quickly dripped to the floor, only there wasn't enough of it. She used her fingernails to pull open the wound on her left wrist even further, this time she could feel the horrific pain, as the teacher had interrupted her satisfaction.

The teacher tried to pull away her hands, tried to stop her, but she simply slipped her fingers into the wound. As the teacher pulled again at her hands, the wound expanded even more, the blood covered skin teared in response.

Horrified at her actions, the teacher's hands flew out of the way, knowing she was causing more damage than she was preventing.

Now gaining freedom, she ran out of the classroom, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She found an empty classroom and quickly opened the door; it was now her sanctuary.

Hearing the shouts of the teacher, she barricaded the door with a desk and a few chairs. Sweeping the room with her eyes, she discovered a pair of scissors laying on the front desk.

_Finally._

She grabbed the scissors and sat with her legs crossed on the carpet. Her eyes shut tight as she tried to ignore the furious knocking and pleas from her teacher.

The scissors sliced easily through her skin, she made quick work of both of her wrists.

Slowly she laid on the floor, the happiness she felt was the most intense thing she had ever experienced. She was so grateful, so thankful. Her parents could be happy now, they would be happy now, without her, only with each other, the way it was meant to be.

A smile remained on her cheeks as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Five years later, Steph stared down at her wrists, the faded scars still visible, still a reminder.

"Why didn't you put me up for adoption? Why do you make me feel like a burden every single second I am near you?" Her voice got louder and louder, near hysterics at the last word. Clenching her fists, she waited for an answer, but did not gain one.

"Answer me!" she shouted. Her mother jumped, clearly frightened by her daughter's increasing rage. Her father felt absolutely helpless, what could he say? Does he admit the truth? Or does he keep lying in an attempt to salvage a family? His concentration was now on these questions racing through his mind and not the road they were driving on.

The silence was crippling them all.

Her rage and impatience were intensifying each and every second.

She punched her father's seat and she screamed once more, "Just tell me. Just tell me you didn't want me!"

"We didn't want you!" her father answered her. Her mother's hands were held over her own lips, the tears flowed quickly; she was in a state of utter shock.

Steph closed her eyes.

She had been waiting for this for so long, waiting for the truth to be recognised instead of being buried underneath all of the lies.

"How could you say that?" her mother asked him, her expression disgusted.

"It's the truth! She wanted the truth and she got the fucking truth, Jane. We can't keep fucking lying to her! She's sixteen for god's sake,"

"Don't swear at me, John,"

"I wasn't swearing at you! Swearing at you would be telling you to fuck off, Jane, but I didn't say that did I, Jane?"

"SHUT UP!" Steph screamed. "Let me out of the car,"

"No, as your mother said, we are going to try and spend the holidays as a family, whether we wanted you or not,"

"LET ME OUT OF THE FUCKING CAR!"

"I said NO!"

Her father had lost concentration on the road and another car rammed into them. Both of her parents died instantly from the head-on collision.

There were a few moments of silence before the shrieking began. . .

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_Twelve years later. . ._


	2. Chapter 1 Waiting

_**Chapter 1** _

Stephanie Sexton was waiting.

And waiting was not exactly her forte.

In other words she detested it.

Patience wasn't something that came naturally to her, rather impatience did. Being patient was something she'd had to work at; a skill she'd acquired over the years. She wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't a skill she was losing.

Patience wasn't a particularly necessary attribute for a multi-billionaire; she was out of practice.

Her dark eyes scanned the room, yet again, as she took another sip from her glass.

Finding nothing, she downed the whole glass. She excused herself from the table she was sitting at, leaving her bag in the hands of obnoxious rich bitches she had only just met. The only reason she sat there was because those people imitated her. Well, her cover.

Stephanie Sexton was known as the British multi-billionaire slut who had just a little bit too much money, and a little too many one-night stands.

Little did they know what she truly was.

She paced to the bar, trying to vent, but failed miserably.

"Where the fuck is he?" she murmured in rage, a little too loudly. Her strong British accent carried incredibly well in a room full of Americans.

"Steph," said a deep male voice in her ear, "Calm down."

"Do. Not. Tell. Me. To. Calm. Down." She separated each word, making the last the most clear.

"Steph,"

"I've flown all the way over here to go to this..."

"Steph-"

"...fucking awards ceremony, which I don't particularly want or need to be at and-"

"Stephanie!" The use of her full name silenced her immediately. She stopped dead in her tracks frozen by anger. The voice in her ear sighed and continued. "I have your attention now?"

"It's just Steph," she tried to say calmly, but the voice in her ear picked up on her underlying irritation and underlying anger.

"Steph. He's going to be here, okay? He's going to receive an award." She opened her mouth to reply but the voice in her ear stopped her.

"No, don't say anything. People already think you're talking to yourself." Looking around the largely decorated hall, he was proven right. An obese man, who looked in his late 40s was giving her weird looks. He sat at a nearby table, his body overflowing the sides of the chair.

"Bluetooth headset," she said loudly and deliberately. To prove her point further, she tapped on it.

The fat man looked away.

She continued her vent towards the bar and took a seat furthest away from everyone.

"Was that aimed at me?" asked the voice in her ear. She ignored his question.

"Jack, where is he?" she asked, speaking more quietly now, "I don't want to be hanging around here all night, waiting for him to show. I don't want to be here at all."

"You don't want to do this do you?" The voice stated more than questioned.

"It's not that, it's just-"

"Look Steph, if you want to abort the mission, be my guest. Honestly it's no problem. I can organise a jet to take you back home tonight and-"

"No," she replied firmly, "this mission is not being aborted." She scanned the room once more, hoping to see him. "Where is that fucker? If I'm stuck here for-"

The voice interrupted her. "10 o'clock."

"What?"

"10 o'clock. Look." Her head turned a little to the left and almost immediately her gaze fell upon the undeniably attractive dark haired man, that was Tony Stark.

She smiled.

"How do you do that?"

"Lucky guess." She could hear the smile in his voice and could imagine him grinning ear to ear right in front of her.

Standing on her feet, she watched Tony for a while. He sauntered casually over to a table followed by a couple of bodyguards and a couple of men who she knew were his friends.

They were not armed.

It wasn't hard to see why people were attracted to Tony Stark; he exuded confidence, sexuality and power, all simultaneously and without difficulty. But at the same time, he had a sense of easiness about him, and, of course, he was rich.

On top of that, he had now added "superhero" to his list of qualities, although she could not fathom the use of bodyguards. Surely a superhero was the protector, not the protected.

She could hardly believe it as she inspected his designer suit. "But then," she thought, looking down at her own expensive dress, "I don't exactly look like an ex-M16 agent, do I?"

Jack interrupted her trail of thought with "Go work your magic then."

"Don't hurry me Jack," she said, half joking. It had been a long time since she'd done anything like this.

"Wouldn't dream of it," was Jack's, somewhat sarcastic, reply.

She located her target. She saw him sitting down, chatting animatedly to the people on the table. She really hadn't planned this part very well. Sure everything else, to the minute detail, but not this part.

When she'd gone through the plans with Jack, she'd always just said she'd "deal with it", but now she was here she had no idea how she was going to do that.

She hoped that the training for quick thinking from M16, would kick in at any moment.

"Having second thoughts?" asked Jack. The amusement in his voice had diminished like her confidence of "dealing with it". He was saying it in that aggravating "I-told-you-so" manner. She knew that if she said yes, he would have no problem with aborting the mission, or think any less of her but the mere fact that he was asking her, irritated her.

"Shut up, Jack." It took less than a minute for her quick thinking to kick in and she decided that the only way to do this was to jump in head first and hope for the best.

Sometimes you've gotta run before you can walk.

Normally she picked up men faster than honey attracted flies. She could get any man she desired, and only desired the best. Yet she was having problems to simply approach Stark.

"So what if he's a multi-billionaire?" she reassured herself, "I am too." Her approach became slower and slower as she drew close to Tony's table. A waiter offered her some champagne and she gladly accepted, thanking him before taking a sip.

"It's these Yanks. They make me nervous," she convinced herself , but most likely it was the fact she was unarmed and lacked any recent experience of seducing anyone of Stark's callibre.

"Okay. So, I'll introduce myself. Maybe mention something about him being Ironman." She looked at her half empty glass which she'd been absentmindedly swirling around, "Or I could just..."

She could not help but smile as she "accidentally" spilled her drink over Tony.

"Oh, I am so sorry," she said, giving a reasonably unconvincing performance. Shaking her head only made it worse.

"That," Jack paused for a moment, "was absolutely terrible." He was laughing at her. The nerves shot up for a second before she managed to control them. He really was not helping.

"Shut up," she hissed under her breath before switching off the headset. She would apologise later to Jack, but at the moment she had work to do.

Stark turned around and examined the dark-haired and startlingly beautiful owner of the British voice.

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, ma'am?" he asked with a smile plastered on his face. Her nerves seemed to have disappeared in his presence. She felt at ease and completely comfortable, but she knew she could not trust this.

"No," she replied, "It's the curse of having a British accent."

Tony laughed, "To tell you the truth I quite like a British accent," Steph smiled. This was just too easy. They'd been in each others company for less than thirty seconds and already he was on the charm offensive.

"Miss Sexton, is it?" he asked holding out his hand. She took his hand and shook it firmly once.

"Just Steph."

"And I'm..."

"Tony Stark, I know," Who didn't? He gestured to a seat. Steph accepted the invitation and sat down with him.

He felt a sudden twinge of guilt.

Pepper.

"Face it Stark," he told himself ,"She's just not into you." He pulled himself back and turned his attentions back to Steph. Keep busy. Don't think about Pepper.

"I never really imagined this to be your scene," he commented. She was grinning on the inside, it took effort to stop herself from showing how she felt.

Stark knew who she was, her name and her face, but he didn't really know anything about her. Few people did. The press had painted this picture of her as a ditsy party girl with more money than sense. She was, in fact, the CEO and Chief Technologist of the worlds leading Spy Tech company, but this was not common knowledge, and she liked to keep it that way.

"Don't believe everything you read in the tabloids," she said casually, then she quickly changed the subject to avoid any awkward questions.

"Anyway, I could say the same thing about you. I thought you'd be busy out saving the world, or whatever it is you do."

"So the Ironman thing got to England huh?" Stark looked quite disappointed, but Steph could tell he was only putting it on.

"As well as Spain, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Portugal-"

"I get the picture." Satisfied, Steph knew she was keeping her cover intact, the ditsy party girl must live on!

Steph picked up the champagne glass, about to take a sip, but realised it was empty and put it back done. This did not escape Stark's attention.

Without even realising it, she was again living up to her name, Sexton the Ditsy. The press loved the initials, SD, how close it was to STD.

"Can I get you a drink to replace the one you 'spilt' on me?"

"Leave the sarcasm to us Brits, okay?" laughed Steph, picking up on his tone. She slightly regretted saying this, perhaps it was too intelligent a reply.

"And miss out on all of the fun?" he replied standing up, "Not a chance." He was about to ask Steph what she wanted to drink when an angry male voice shouted his name.

"Tony!" Colonel James Rhodes came marching up to Stark, his face set alite by fury. Steph recognized his face from earlier, one of the friends that accompanied him during his entrance; it had crossed her mind why he wasn't still with him.

No doubt she was about to find out.

"Tony, you son of a-"

"Not in front of the lady."

"The 'lady'?" she thought in her head. At least Stark had manners.

"You think you're funny don't you Tony?" he said lowering his voice, but not enough that Steph wasn't able to hear what he was saying. "Sending me off to go find some guy who ain't even here. That's real funny."

Stark feigned surprise, "He's not here? That will be the fourth year in a row he hasn't turned up," He shrugged. "Maybe he didn't get invited," Steph looked away trying to suppress a laugh.

"You know what, I ain't your baby sitter. I don't have to put up with this sh-"

"Rhodey. I'm busy."

"You're busy are you? You know what? I don't care. I wouldn't care if you were in the middle of having sex right now. I'm fed up of..." Tony rolled his eyes and turned to Steph. Images flashed quickly through her mind, that would be slightly embarrassing, she thought.

"What can I get you?" he asked politely, smiling at her.

"Do not ignore me, Tony!"

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm listening. You're at the part where you start going on about how you don't have to deal with me anymore and threaten to 'leave and never come back' and then I tell you to go ahead and then you'll start telling me about all these things I 'couldn't have done without you' and all the times you bailed me out." He paused to take in some oxygen.

"Then, I go through a few of the many things I could have done without you and then you go back to telling me that you don't have to put up with any of this anymore," Rhodey scowled. Stark was telling him he was predictable. The worst part about it was that he was right. He stood speechless, shaking with rage for a few seconds. Stark took full advantage of this.

He turned to Steph, who tried quickly to compose herself.

"So, what can I get you?" he asked her for the second time. She looked up at him through her lashes, toying with a stray strand of her long glossy hair.

"Surprise me," she murmured seductively. Stark seemed taken aback for a moment, but composed himself immediately.

"Surprise you? I can do that." She saw a sudden playfulness in his dark eyes and grinned. He sure bounced back quickly.

Steph was certain that Stark was secured for tonight. It had been much easier than she'd anticipated. Tony turned to walk to the bar, but by this point, Rhodey had finally recovered.

"Don't you walk away from me, Tony! I'm warning you! Tony! TONY!" Shaking his head, Tony continued to walk, closely followed by an enraged Rhodey. As soon as he was twenty feet from her, she stood up strolled back to her original table and grabbed her small black bag.

There was nothing really of value in there, except for her I-pod and her phone and perhaps a few condoms, but her phone and I-pod were easily replaceable and they both needed passwords.

And if her condoms were stolen, that would irritate her. Although she was on the Pill, she wasn't in the mood for HIV.

She kept her expression light and happy as she told the "rich bitches" goodbye. Their expressions more on the jealous side, no doubt they had seen her exchange between Stark. They were such selfish creatures, lazy as well. At least Steph had earned her fortune.

After turning on the headset, she put her phone to her ear not wanting anymore hassle from the dozy yanks. She was exaggerating yes, but come on! What right did that obese man have to just stare at her like that?

"Got bored of talking to me did you?" Jack said as she made her way back.

"Never." He laughed at her response. She could talk to Jack for hours and hours upon end, but not once get bored. "Listen, sorry about what I said earlier," That was the apology over. As she took her seat, she noticed Stark approaching, one glass in his hands.

"I'm going to be busy in about a twenty seconds," she said placing her bag by the side of her chair. Her back was turned from the other occupants of the table, anymore unnecessary socialising with Americans may just send her over the edge.

"How long do you think..." Jack asked. He didn't need to complete the question, Steph knew what he meant.

"Give me a couple of hours. Call me when you're ready."

"Can I just ask, what's wrong with the headset?"

"No, you really can't ask, gotta go."

"Okay, but Steph, surely you should call-" She saw Tony a few metres away and abruptly ended the conversation with a "Bye, Jack."

Switching off the headset, she put the phone in her bag and watched Tony place the glass in front of her on the table. Stark was unaccompanied and she assumed he had lost Rhodey at the bar.

"Who was that?"

"Just a friend," she replied. White lie. Jack was a friend. But he was so much more than that. Her best friend, her confidante.

Picking up the glass, she automatically checked to see if her glass was spiked, by spinning the drink one way and then the other.

"What is it?"

Smiling he replied with a, "I thought you wanted a surprise?"

Taking a sip from the glass, she recognised it immediately.

Good old British wine.

"I thought it might remind you of home." She sighed as she stared at the glass. She already missed it. She missed the ridiculously congested London city streets, the black cabs, the dull grey skies, but most of all and most importantly, she missed Jack. He was the nearest thing she had to family. The only thing close to it. The few relatives she had left were distant and she'd only met them a few times during her life.

"Concentrate." she reminded herself. Raising her head, she voiced the fact that he had no glass of his own.

"Where's your drink?" she asked and started to take another sip of the Nyetimber.

"I'm not drinking." She nearly choked when he said that, "Busy day tomorrow."

Steph was pretty sure that she could get Tony to take her home with him, but if he wasn't drinking, damn! She'd counted on the fact that he be utterly pissed. How the hell are you supposed to spike someone's drink if they aren't drinking!?

Tony seeing the somewhat distressed look on her face asked her what was wrong.

"You're busy tomorrow?" she pretended it was that which was worrying her.

Stark smiled, "Don't worry. That doesn't affect my plans for tonight, whatsoever," she knew exactly what he meant. He was fully intending on taking her home tonight. She mirrored his expression. With that out of the way she could concentrate on trying to get him to drink something for the rest of the night. They'd probably start the presentations in about fifteen minutes and that would take a good couple of hours.

Tony, however, had other ideas.

"I'm sure one drink wouldn't hurt."

"Do you need to be here?" He asked, ignoring her previous comment. What Tony wants, he gets, she thought.

Looking at him suspiciously, she replied, "I guess not."

A playful smile crept onto Tony's face, "Me neither," Although she was glad to hear these words, she frowned in response, "You're receiving an award, Tony."

"Come on, neither of us really want to be here. Why don't you just come back to mine and have a couple of drinks?"

"A couple of drinks?" Steph repeated who now had the same playful smile plastered on her expression. This had to be her record time for seducing a man, but maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Looking at the tabloids, most people would have come to the conclusion that Stark had a highly over active sex-drive. He truly did not need that much encouragement.

Tony looked at Steph with a look that said "Come hither". He had it down to a tee. Funnily enough, Tony was thinking the exact same thing about Steph.

"So?" he asked.

Smiling enigmatically, she replied, "Let's go."

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**_Tell us what you think._**


	3. Chapter 2 Sweet Dreams

**_Chapter 2_**

As they exited the awards ceremony, the press swarmed around them like angry bees. Tony's security had failed to keep them at bay, failed to keep the hive contained, there was just too many to hold back.

The words "Are you Ironman?" kept rolling off their lips, every single second. Steph was grateful that they were concentrating on Stark more than herself, but Tony conveniently grabbed hold of her hand as if to steer her into the oncoming wave of reporters.

Flash after flash after flash.

Stark had been told by S.H.I.E.L.D. not to answer _any_ questions; Nick Fury had gone ballistic after Tony's little stunt, as did Pepper, hell everyone did.

Except Tony of course.

Cameras, microphones and tape recorders were all being shoved into their faces, they both kept their eyes low, the amount of flashing was actually burning their retinas.

Steph hated her personal space being invaded, her past told her to keep people at a distance, to be ready for any offensives, any sign of attack. However, Sexton the Ditsy craved this sort of attention, desired it as much as she desired sex.

Managing to move a few more steps, she pouted at a few cameras, gave them a wave with her free hand and flipped her hair, and at the same time turned on the headset.

The press came in all shapes and sizes these days, but after a while, they all looked the same.

"Hey, Jack," she murmured, keeping her lips from moving.

"Have fun getting out of there! By the way, no offensive or anything, but your expression is sort of demented."

"Thanks so much, I am trying to keep my lips still." She spoke through her teeth as she flashed them some more grins.

"Your smile looks like a paralyzed fish."

"Which camera are you looking at me from?"

"Turn thirty degrees to your left." Not knowing which camera it was exactly, she held up her index and middle finger, smirking. The Americans didn't realise she was swearing at them.

Jack did.

"I did say no offensive!" Steph noticed a pushy blonde female, shoving her way through various journalists, all trying to get the best story.

"Who's the blonde?" she asked Jack as she smiled at more and more cameras.

"Nice way to change the subject," he mumbled before answering her.

"Christine Everheart, has a thing against Stark."

"Why?" Everheart continued to shove her way through the other journalists.

"Personal reasons."

"She fucked him didn't she?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"Christine Everheart, Vanity Fair magazine, can I-"

"Fuck Tony again? No, you can't, he's mine for the night."

"Not a good move, Steph, she's going to be onto you," Jack said, his voice a lot more difficult to hear with the shrieks of the enraged bees.

"Excuse me?" Christine finally asked. She felt Tony pull on her arm and knew she had run out of time playing with the blonde.

"Is he any good?" Steph whispered in her ear, although with the amount of noise the reporters were making it was more a shout. Christine's expression was one of pure hatred and disgust.

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.**_  
_**

For someone who wasn't drinking, Stark sure drank a lot. It had been difficult to slip the sedatives into his drink, particularly as he didn't seem to pause between drinks, but somehow she'd managed to stir the drugs into a glass of Scotch and switch his drink with the one she'd spiked without him suspecting a thing.

Unfortunately the sedatives she'd used to drug Tony were slow acting ones. She'd planned on putting them in his drink at the awards ceremony and she didn't want him passing out before he'd received his award. Of course, receiving an award was not really Tony's intention; not since Steph had shown an interest in him.

She wouldn't be able to do anything productive until Tony was asleep and that wouldn't be for another hour and a half at least, but at least she knew that when he did fall asleep, there would be no danger of him waking up anytime soon afterwards. With those sedatives in his system, he'd sleep like a rock.

The conversation flowed surprisingly easy, just as Steph had hoped. Keeping distracted was the best thing to do while on four wheels. They reminded her too much of the past.

_How fucking convenient he drove a fucking Audi._

Stark finished his third glass of scotch as the car pulled up outside his state of the art, beautifully locationed, cliff top Malibu mansion. It was impossible to fully appreciate in the darkness but Steph still looked at it in awe. Stark had good taste. She had to give him that.

Stark got out, holding out a hand for Stephanie, who, smiling, took it.

"So Miss Sexton, what do you think?" he asked her gesturing to his home.

"Not bad Stark, not bad."

He smiled. "Just wait to you see the bedroom. That's one of my favourite rooms."

"Oh I bet it is," thought Steph.

The first thing he did when he got into the house, was pour himself yet another glass of Scotch. The first three had been just enough to eliminate any guilty feelings. Now he was drinking for pleasure.

Stark still seemed remarkably sober, much to Stephanie's irritation. She wondered what it would take to get him drunk. He was already on his fourth glass of Scotch yet he hadn't even started slurring his words yet.

She sighed. An hour and a half was a long time; enough time for Stark to get bored of her and ask her to leave. He had only offered her a 'couple of drinks'. It looked like she was going to have to switch to plan B. Not that she minded. Not at all.

Maybe she shouldn't, but she couldn't help it. It was in her nature. Hell, it was in everyone's nature.

Stark offered her a drink.

She refused.

He laughed. "Do you think it's drugged or something? I'm drinking it too."

Steph looked away. She didn't think her face would give her away. She had a pretty good poker face, but there was no harm in playing it safe.

"I, uh, I'm not a big fan of Scotch," she explained. That was a bare faced lie. She loved it; Scotch, Brandy,Whiskey, anything that was generally considered too strong for a woman to be drinking. She wasn't sure if it was that she liked the taste of the stuff, or if it was just her defiant nature. Probably a combination of the two.

"I have champagne, red wine, white wine, Jack Daniels. You name it, I got it."

Stephanie was about to refuse a drink again, but thought better of it. She probably should drink_ something, _considering he did invite her here for a drink.

"I even have lager if you want," said Stark, half joking. Stephanie noticed that his fourth glass of glass was now nearly empty.

"Lager's fine," she said, much to Stark's surprise. He raised his eyebrows clearly showing his feelings.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied, "One cold lager coming up. In a glass?"

Stephanie nodded. "With ice."

"One cold lager, in a glass, with ice." He poured a slightly smaller glass of scotch for himself before exiting the room, leaving Steph alone.

She desperately wanted to call Jack, but she didn't know how far away Stark was, or how easily he would be able to hear her. She couldn't risk screwing up, not now where she was so close. Instead she decided to get up and look around. Familiarising herself with the house now would save time later. Jack should be able to help her out with exact locations. How he could do that she didn't know, but he always managed to find a way.

Her eyes scanned the room taking in every minute detail. Her gaze eventually settled on the beautiful grand piano on the other side of the room. She wondered if Stark played. Just because he owned a piano, didn't mean he could play. It seemed to be sort of fashionable for rich people to have pianos she'd noticed. Even she was a culprit of that.

She walked over to the piano and lifted the lid without thinking. She wasn't surprised to hear Stark's voice when he asked her, "Do you play?" She'd sensed his presence when he'd walked into the room.

She shrugged. She _could_ play but performance wasn't something she particularly enjoyed. It was more a pass time when she was younger, to do simply that.

Pass time.

"Do you?" she asked him.

Tony smiled. "I like to think I can."

He handed Steph her glass and put his own drink down on top of the piano, before sitting down and starting to play.

Steph rolled her eyes as he began to play Chopin's 'minute waltz'. She should have known he'd have to play something showy. Stark noticed and laughed, his playing not faultering in the slightest. He seemed to play effortlessly. She had to give it to him; he was good.

As he finished, Steph put down her own glass and clapped accordingly.

"I'm sure that piece sounds harder than it really is," she commented. She'd played it herself before and she knew for a fact that it sounded much more difficult than it really was.

Stark looked at her challengingly, "Reckon you can top that?"

She knew what he was trying to do, but it didn't work on her. "I'm not playing tonight."

"Sorry," he said smiling, "I didn't mean to intimidate you," This was his last appeal to her competitive streak. He figured if this didn't work, he would just leave it.

But it did work.

She sat down at the piano, not having the faintest idea what to play. Fortunately, her fingers seemed to know what to do and, without thinking, she somehow managed to play through the whole of 'Clair de lune' flawlessly.

"Okay, that round you won," Stark admitted when she had finished. He was genuinely surprised that she could play, even more so that she could play well. "I bet you practice that everyday."

She laughed in response; that couldn't be further from the truth. She rarely played the piano and hadn't played that particular piece in years. Closing the piano, she took another sip from her glass.

Another rush of memories from home seemed to soothe her.

Neither of them spoke for a while. She wondered if the sedatives were starting to kick in. Maybe she wouldn't need to go through plan B after all.

After such a relaxing piece of music, Stark was beginning to realise just how tired he was.

"Steph, I'm kinda tired, do you mind if we call it a night?" Immediately, she panicked. He couldn't throw her out now. Plan B it was, she thought as she flung her arms around him and kissed him.

Stark looked startled. "Wow. I really wasn't expecting that."

Running a hand through her hair, she murmured quietly, "You never did show me the bedroom."

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She wondered how far she'd have to go with Stark. Going all the way hadn't been her original intention; just far enough to wear him out. She had work to do and she'd be too tired if they 'did the deed', as it were.

But things were moving so fast and she didn't really want to slow it down. "Fuck it," she said to herself, "Plan B it is, then."

It didn't make much difference anyway, it just meant she'd have to get up early tomorrow and she'd be under a time pressure. That she could deal with.

She looked into Tony's eyes one last time before giving herself up to him. She liked him, really liked him. He was different from the many other men she'd slept with, Stark was in her league, intelligent-wise, wealth-wise and looks-wise. The majority of men only had one of these, some two, but even more seldom all three.

Steph thought that maybe if the situation had been been different, they could have had more than just a one night stand. If was the crucial word here; _if_ the situation had been different.

But it wasn't.

At first she refused to think of it as anything other than work, part of the plan, but Stark was good. Incredibly good. He lived up to his reputation and some points exceeded them. Soon all thoughts of the mission had vanished out of her head. The things he was doing to her were sending sensations through her body that she'd never felt before.

She didn't feel in control of herself. Rather he was. She couldn't think at all. Her mind had stopped so she could feel everything, making her completely lost to Stark.

He was building things up slowly and Steph felt like she was going completely insane. He had complete power over her; he could make her scream, he could send her into hysterics, he could silence her and she was pretty sure that if he touched her the right way, he could make her cry. Half of her was begging him to stop, the other half begging him not to. She felt powerless.

She was usually in control of situations like these. It was the first time that she'd really felt like she'd been completely at someone else's mercy. She loved it; but at the same time hated it. It wasn't an experience she would ever want to try again.

Tony was more than pleased with Stephanie. She responded to almost every single tough and she didn't hold back at all. "If I knew British girls were like this," he looking down at her, "I would have gone over there a long time ago."

"Tony! Stop! Please," Steph managed to say, it had taken a hell of a lot of will power.

His dominance had torn her in two. Part of her was craving for a man to take control for so long, someone strong and distinctly masculine. That part of her didn't want Tony to stop.

The other part of her, the stronger, more defiant side, didn't like how little control she had over the situation. She wanted to be in control, and she'd gathered together all most all of her will power to overthrow the other side and finally ask him to stop.

"Just hang on Steph. I'm close."

She could not speak again after that. The civil war had rampaged through her entire being, nearly tearing her in half.

The fact that the arc reactor was implanted in his chest kept her together. To think how easy it would be to rip the thing off there and then. Didn't he know the danger he was in? How could he let someone so close, so easily? Studying the arc reactor, she was fascinated by it, the glows his lifeline, without it only darkness.

For him, the literal sense.

In some ways, she was thankful to those people who tortured him for three months.

Finally the ceasefire began as he pulled away from her.

Knowing that he was tired, the fact was that she really shouldn't, but she wasn't happy to just leave it like that.

Why would she want to be remembered as just _another _submissive female? She didn't want to think of herself as 'submissive', which meant that they'd have to go another round, but this time she fully intended to be in charge.

A very small part of her felt bad about it, it wasn't part of the plan, or at all necessary. "What the hell?" she thought. "Perks of the job."

But that wasn't the only reason why.

Every time she 'did the deed' with someone, images of her having sex with somebody else would appear in her mind. The images were only untraceable memories, like a puzzle she tried to solve each time they _would_ appear.

She would nearly always have these strange flashbacks. What made them strange, was the fact that they were reoccurring and that she did not know the man who she was, well, having sex with. His face in darkness, as was the rest of his body, just like a shadow.

What she did know, was that he was the first person she ever had sex with. That, frankly, was it. She was always curious to see his shadow again, always curious to know who she gave her virginity to. She had never known who it was, even the day after it happened. This did not worry her, she was not physically injured and took emergency contraceptive, just in case, but she was relatively sure that it was protected.

It was, however, slightly irritating that she could not recall who took her virginity. To say that he 'stole' it would be exaggerating, it was consensual.

Curiosity swept through her and she wanted to solve the mystery. Looking over at Stark; she noticed he was already half asleep.

It didn't take her too long to get his full attention though.

"Jesus Christ, Steph! I thought you-"

"I'm not done with you yet, Stark," she said, straddling him.

"You're not?"

"No, I'm-" she was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing. Jack.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked her.

"My phone-" she started.

"Leave it."

"I can't." Tony put his hands on her waist and held her firmly. She reached over the bed, just managing to reach her mobile, "I have to take this call."

Answering the call, she held the cell with one and hand and used the other to try and pull Tony's hands from her waist. He wouldn't budge.

"I'm ready," said Jack's voice. "Steph?"

Of course he'd think she would be ready about now, and she would have been if she had stuck to the plan.

"Yeah, well I'm not."

"You're not? What happened?" Tony chose this ever so convenient moment to pull himself into her. She could not help but gasp.

"Steph, are you okay? asked Jack, his voice full of genuine concern.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said, struggling to keep her voice even. Gazing down at Tony, she was more than determined not to let him take control again. The fact that she was on the phone hadn't fazed him at all.

"I have to go now. I'm kinda. . . busy."

"Busy with what?" asked the voice on the other end, but Steph had managed to drop the phone, or rather Tony had managed to make her drop it.

The noises that followed were enough to tell Jack exactly was Steph was 'busy' with. The sound of his best friend having sex with another man was disturbing to say the least.

"Tony! I was on the phone!" Tony didn't reply, only laughed. Both of them fought for dominance; attacking each other right to the very end.

The second time was even more intense than the first time. Tony fell asleep almost immediately afterwards.

Steph was surprised that he'd managed to last the full two rounds with those sedatives in his system, but to be fair, he had been drifting off after the first time anyway. It was only because she'd disturbed him that he's gone another round.

The fatigue wasn't overwhelming yet. Heat kept rolling off her, there was no chance of sleep anyway in the state she was in.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she tried to regulate her breathing. After making sure that Tony was completely out of it, she switched on the headset.

"Jack, you there?"

"Uh huh."

"Sorry about before I was-"

"I know." He sounded a little irritated, well more than a little, but she didn't understand why.

"I had to go with plan B." she explained.

"I figured, Steph."

There was complete silence for a while.

"Still, you two must have been at it like rabbits," he said, laughing at the end. He failed to conceal the fact that he was definitely pissed off. She could hear it in his voice. Never before had she heard him like this.

Jack never really got angry or irritated with her or anything else for the matter.

Not_ really._

She wondered if it was because she had messed up the plan. But still, he seemed to be over-reacting.

Or maybe it was to do with that last call, after she'd dropped the phone. That made more sense, although she couldn't help feeling annoyed. It wasn't as if she'd purposefully dropped it. She was about to say something in her defence, but Jack spoke first.

"I'm sorry. That was completely out of order. You just did what you had to do. I know this mission means a lot to you." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything. Steph wasn't sure how to respond with that.

He'd probably been permanently scarred by the sound of her and Tony.

"I'm ready now. Stark's totally out of it."

"I'm surprised you're not."

"Nah. I'm good." That wasn't true. She was exhausted, but she felt like she owed Jack something and this was the least she could do. After all, if they left it until tomorrow morning, they would both be under the time pressure.

"Steph, go to sleep."

"Jack..."

"I don't think you're in any state to be working. I'll wake you up in the morning."

"You sure?" she said, already settling herself in the bed next to Tony. He was right, she was way too tired to be working.

"Absolutely," His tone softened, "Goodnight, Steph."

She smiled, now that was the Jack she was used to.

"What time is it at home?"

"Erm." He yawned before replying. "7am."

"You going to get some sleep?"

"Think so," gaining no response, he mumbled, "Well, ahem, night I guess."

"Night, Jack."

"Sweet dreams," he whispered. Steph had by now already shut her eyes for the night.

"Huh?"

"I said good night."

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**_Thankyou so much for all of the reviews and alerts! They mean a lot, so cheers. _**

**_Can't wait for the response :D _**


	4. Chapter 3 Vulnerable

**_ Chapter 3_**

_Water. _

_The water was falling. _

_Everywhere._

_Darkness. _

_The darkness was everywhere._

_She sprinted at full speed down the street, ignoring each and every puddle she stepped in. _

_"Go faster!" she screamed to herself as her legs started to slow and her muscles burnt in protest. _

_They could not take anymore. _

_The shoes on her feet were lost some way back; the wet concrete strangely comfortable. _

_"Jack!" she shrieked. A figure appeared about twenty feet in front of her, making her stop dead still in her tracks. Their back faced her._

_Was that Jack? She wondered._

_Slowly the figure's head turned to face her. Jack's expression was so full of misery and shame, that it horrified her._

_"Jack? What's wrong? What did I do?" His eyes were crimson, as if he had been crying, or as if he was crying. The pouring rain made it impossible to know. _

_It became harder and harder for her to see him, the water from the rain, or perhaps her own tears, made her vision hazy. _

_She stepped towards him.__ "Jack?" In response to this, he himself took a step back, making the darkness consume him.  
_

_"Jack!" She hastily approached him, but the distance never got smaller. Jack kept moving away from her, until he faded into the night. _

_Now he was only a shadow._

_She tried her best to follow him, picking up her pace each moment. Flickers of his image kept appearing in front of her, she chased them helplessly, trying to stop him, trying to ask him what was wrong. But it was pointless. She could not catch him.  
_

_"Jack!" her screams were only falling upon deaf ears, the only sound apart from the falling element. How could she ever give up? She could never do that to him. The mere thought felt like such a treacherous betrayal, a thing she could never be capable of. _

_I won't give up. I'll never give up. _

_Her pointless chase of the shadows continued. The rain fell heavier than before as if to prevent her from reaching him. _

_"JACK!"  
_

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"Steph!"

She woke up suddenly, the nightmare still fresh in her memory, as fresh as the pouring rain that she could still hear.

"Steph?" Jack thought he heard her gasp slightly, now he called her name after hearing her call his again and again.

She smiled hearing Jack's voice, but failed to respond.

"Steph, are you awake?" Again, she didn't answer, just enjoying the sound of his voice. It was completely comforting after such vivid nightmare.

He sighed and spoke a little louder, assuming she was still sleeping. "Rise and shine sleepy head. You've got a busy morning and we're already behind schedule."

Finally Steph answered him with a yawn. "I'm awake," she stated slipping out of Tony's bed.

"Sleep well?"

"Uh huh."

"Liar." She didn't know why he bothered asking. She _never_ slept well.

Tony Stark or not.

She soon begun the recovery effort in retrieving her strewn clothes. They were scattered everywhere on the floor.

"Ready to go?" Jack asked her. She was glad he hadn't asked about her nightmare. That would have been a little too awkward.

As for him, he didn't dare ask why she was screaming his name over and over, it would have been equally awkward.

"I'm not dressed, Jack," she replied, pushing aside Tony's shirt looking for the remaining items of clothing.

"You don't need to get dressed, Steph. Let's just get this over and done with."

"I'm not walking around Tony Stark's house naked, there are cameras."

"Cameras?"

"Yeah, everywhere except the bathroom and the bedroom I hope. That would be a little too perverted for my liking."

"Hurry up then."

She sighed, he was right, there wasn't time for this. She put on Tony's shirt. She could dress later.

"Don't forget your medicine, Steph."

She rolled her eyes. "Mmmhmm."

"Don't mmmhmm me Steph. Go take it now."

She didn't know where she'd put her bag, which contained the medicine and frankly she really didn't care. A silence ensued as she didn't say anything for a while.

"Steph?"

"Yep."

"You take it?"

"Yes." The medicine was to help with post traumatic stress apparently; something she could thank the M16 for. She had always been positive that they were ineffective. She still had nightmares every night.

Every single night.

But Jack insisted she take them. At home he'd make sure she did, but he couldn't check if she wasn't there.

Not taking the medicine was pointless, but Steph being the defiant stubborn type she was, simply couldn't help it.

She lay on her front on the floor in Tony's room preparing for her morning work out.

"Steph?"

"Give me five minutes, Jack." She began doing press ups, twenty five of them, followed by another twenty five sit ups, then twenty five press ups and then a further fifty sit ups, and that was the shortened version.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked, despairing a little. They were already under more a time pressure than he'd anticipated.

"Five minutes, Jack" she said, "Just. Five."

"Please do not tell me you are doing your little exercise routine." He received no response.

"Is it really necessary for you to do this now?"

She'd moved onto sit ups by now.

"Yes. Jack. It. Is," she said a word after each sit up.

"Don't worry Steph, carry on. If you get caught, we can always try it again, you know, after you get released from prison."

She stopped, less than half way through her routine. It'd just have to wait.

"Okay," she said, catching her breath, "Let's go."

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As with most things, the first part was the most difficult; getting into Stark's workshop. The lock on the door was code activated; nothing too difficult, process of elimination would get you through that one, simple trial and error, unless of course, there was the 'three strikes then you're out' policy.

'Out' meaning either completely locked out so that even if you did manage to get the right code after the third time, you wouldn't be able to unlock the door. Or 'out' meaning that the third unsuccessful attempt would set off an alarm. Naturally Stark had something better, much better.

"Sorry miss, you are not authorised to access that area," she was shocked to hear the strong British accent.

Automatically, she reached for her gun, but she wasn't carrying one.

"Fuck," she muttered helplessly. Another thing she hated was being unarmed.

"Good morning, Miss Sexton," said the voice that had addressed her before. Scanning the room, there was definitely no one around.

She wondered for a second why Jack wasn't offering any assistance. He was always trying to reassure her when she didn't want to be, but now when she was started to become unsettled, he said nothing.

Then, as she listened more intently, she heard the sound of fingers hitting a keyboard.

"Damn it. We're going to have to get into the main circuitry from outside the work shop," his words meshed together slightly as he spoke too quickly.

"Jack, didn't you hear that?"

"Yes. I did," he said slowly, the typing started to get more and more furious.

"Oh, I forgot to mention he has an AI system that runs the house, name's Jarvis."

"Gee, thanks for telling me."

"Anytime."

"Nearly gave me flipping heart attack!" Jack ignored her. She could hear him typing again.

"Okay," he said after a while, "Go back upstairs, you need to find a room with a camera but you can't been seen. Clear?"

"Like the Thames." Her sarcasm was more blunt than usual, less up-beat.

She comprehended what she had to do; find part of the main circuit system and connect her phone into it without being seen by any of the cameras.

"This," she said as she strolled up the stairs, "is going to take forever Jack." Now she was walking through the spacious living room, her back stuck to the wall, avoiding the camera on the west side.

"That's why we should have done it last night." He was still irritated about that, it laced through his words.

Silence consumed them both as she set to work.

It was almost impossible to find a part of the main circuitry that wasn't in view of the cameras. She wondered if Tony had positioned them like that for exactly this reason. It seemed too smart an idea for an American; but then again he was supposed to be a 'genius'.

Eventually she managed to find a place, and after that it was all plain sailing. Her speciality was micro electronics, so there was no problem integrating her phone into the circuit, and from there she was able to temporarily override security.

Hacking into the mainframe was piss easy. Obviously Stark relied more on external security. That wasn't to say that he didn't have internal security measures in place.

He did.

More than any normal person would have, but still, for someone who was supposedly intelligent, it seemed kind of basic.

Via Steph's mobile, Jack was able to temporarily disable Jarvis, the security cameras and allow Steph access into Stark's workshop.

In the workshop there was a variety of cars including a 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster, an orange Saleen S7, a convertible blue Shelby Cobra, a silver Tesla Roadster and two Harley Davidson Rockers.

She inspected the two silver choppers, one to be Tony to choose style over performance. It was interesting that he had bikes, perhaps like the piano it was just for show.

Taking a seat near one of the computers, she quickly gained access and began roaming through the contents.

"Well, well, well, would you look at this," she said to herself as she peered through some of Stark's designs for the Ironman armour.

"Pfft, bodyguard, pretty lame don't you think?"

"Have you found it yet?" Jack asked her, conscious that they were under an increasing time pressure.

"Getting there." She was only just managing to understand some of the applications Stark had incorporated into the armour. It wasn't her area of expertise, but still it fascinated her.

"Taking his nationality into account, this isn't bad." That was an understatement. This, is nothing else, proved that Stark was a technological genius, but there was no way in hell she was ever going to admit that. It would mean she'd have to respect him and Americans did not deserve that kind of respect.

She closed the files and began searching for the one she'd hacked in for.

They weren't there.

"I did try and tell you that it would be unlikely-"

"I know, but it was worth a try."

"Was it?" He knew this was more like a game to Steph. It always was. She liked the time pressure, the fact that she could get caught at any moment.

She got a kick out of it.

Jack on the other hand hated it. The fact that she'd slept with Tony made it worse, and the fact that he'd just_ had_ to overhear them going at it.

Part of him wondered if this mission had really just been a smoke screen, an excuse for her to sleep with Stark.

These thoughts made him angry and not just because he'd been put under an unnecessary time pressure.

Steph went back upstairs, retrieved her phone and reconnected the circuit in a matter of seconds. She'd removed any evidence of her intrusion while she was down in the workshop. Everything was back to normal now, with no sign that anything happened at all.

"I suppose that there really is no reason that he'd have access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files," she said, "I mean, why would he?"

Jack had already said this to her many times before, but she'd remained adamant that the mission go ahead. It was good practice anyway.

The next mission would be much harder.

"You know, I'm sure I told you that."

"You have."

"Really? Hmm."

"What do you mean hmm?"

"Just hmm."

"Hmm as in hmm? Or hmm as in hmmmm. . ."

"Just a hmm."

"You can't just have a hmm."

"Hmm?"

"Can we stop this now?"

"Mmmhmm."

There was a second of silence before they both erupted into laughter. It took at least a minute for them to calm down. Both of them quiet now, the conversation resumed after they had recovered.

"Oh god, I wanna go home! I miss our conversations."

"We are having a conversation."

"You know what I mean, Jack. I miss the busy streets and grey skies of London already."

"It was your decision to-"

"I know."

"I did tell you-"

"Okay, fine you win."

"It's not about winning Steph, it's about-"

"Listening. I know, I know Jack." She'd heard it all before. Every time she didn't take his advice and it backfired on her, she got the same little speech.

"You know, but you don't care," Jack murmured to himself, but Steph heard what he said. It wasn't like him to act like this. Maybe he was still annoyed about what had happened last night. She smiled.

"Are you sulking, Jack?" she asked playfully, the up-beat tone flooded back to her voice.

"Why would I be sulking?"

"I don't know, you tell me." He could hear the amusement in her voice and knew exactly what she was thinking. It wasn't that which was getting to him, but it was good enough to play along with. What was really bothering him was something that he couldn't tell her.

Some things even best friends have to keep things from each other.

"I want to claim compensation for that," he said, lightening his tone slightly.

She laughed, "Compensation?"

"Yeah. What I heard last night, well, that was damaging Steph." He could hear Steph giggling. "Okay, we'll sort out the compensation when I get back."

"And a pay rise."

"A pay rise?" She shook her head, he was just playing games with her. She already paid him a ridiculous amount. "Oh come on. You've got more money than you know what to do with."

"And you've got even more than that."

"Hey, what's mine is yours." Jack didn't reply, just smiled. He knew she mean well, but he didn't care about the money. What he wanted, really wanted, was something he was fairly sure he would never get. Still, the meaning of the gesture was one that touched him.

Steph broke the momentary silence. "I guess I better go check on sleeping beauty."

She meant Tony. "Yeah."

"Wouldn't want him waking up lonely, now would we?"

"Uh huh." The thought of Steph going back to Tony was one that made Jack feel ill. He tried to block the thought from his mind.

Steph made her way back to Tony's bedroom. She climbed back onto the bed and checked to see if Tony was conscious. As she saw his eyes still rolled into his head, she was absolutely certain that he wasn't going to wake up any time soon.

She looked down at him sleeping, snoring gently. It was kind of cute. She smiled.

"He looks so innocent when he's sleeping," It was funny because Tony Stark was not a man usually associated with the word innocence. She laughed, picking up her phone. This was just _too_ good to keep to herself.

"Well so do you," Jack told her. He'd seen her asleep many times before and it was the only time he could really describe her as looking innocent, at peace, or even better, vulnerable. Steph was naturally a very closed person; she didn't open up to people, didn't trust people, except Jack, and even with him there was a barrier sometimes, but when she was sleeping, all of that melted away.

"I don't do innocent, Jack," Steph stated, taking a picture of Tony sound asleep, and smiling to herself.

Jack smiled, "If you say so, Steph."

"By the way, who's that black guy that hangs around with Tony?"

"What?"

"That black guy, one in uniform, who's friends with Tony. Who is he?"

"Why do you think I know that?"

"I don't, it was your cue to find out for me," Jack rolled his eyes and a few seconds later came back with an answer.

"Colonel James Rhodes. He's-"

"What's his number?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"I'll tell you after you give me the number."

"Steph. I'll have you know that I am not an idiot."

She sighed. "You hate Tony, right?"

"No," he answered a little too quickly, "Why would I hate him? I've never met him."

Steph laughed. "Oh come on, after last night. . ."

She was perfectly right, for more reasons than she knew.

"Hate is more a passionate word and I do not have passion for that man."

"Strongly dislike?" she suggested, but received no reply from Jack. "You want a bit of payback, don't you?"

"What were you thinking?" asked Jack, smiling, hoping she couldn't hear it in his voice.

He wouldn't normally agree to assist in any of Steph's little revenge schemes, in fact usually he'd be trying to deter her, but she was right; he did want a little payback.

"Got your phone on?" Steph asked.

"Do I ever switch it off?"

"This is good, trust me, you'll laugh." She sent the picture of 'innocent' Tony to him. She knew that he'd received it by his response - an attempt to suppress a laugh.

"I told you it was good," she said, feeling somewhat satisfied.

"Not that good."

"You laughed."

"Not really."

"Not really? What the hell are you talking about, Jack? You laughed. I heard you."

"Well, I was preparing to laugh, anticipating something funny, and then you sent me that, which really wasn't." The smile was evident in his voice; he was just trying to wind her up. "So you want me to send this to Rhodes?"

"You'd do that? For me?"

Jack smiled, "Just for you, Steph," he said, forwarding the message.

"Just because you don't trust me with his number."

"Correct," replied Jack, making sure his number would be untraceable when Rhodes received it.

Steph laughed. "What do you think I'm going to do? Try to get him to sleep with me?"

Jack didn't reply and an awkward silence lingered between them. Steph's sex life, although a very prominent point of her life, was not something she and Jack talked about. It was a subject they'd always avoided, well he'd always avoided.

Eventually Steph broke the silence.

"He snores as well." She was talking about Tony again. "And don't even think about saying I snore. I know for a fact I don't,"

"No, but you do this really cute thing where you-"

Steph interrupted him, "Cute? Innocent? Next you'll be calling me sweet!"

It was exactly what Jack had expected. She was uncomfortable with him seeing her as anything other than a strong, capable, independent female, who could take care of herself.

She was more vulnerable than she even realised.

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**_Thanks for your support guys!_**

_Can't wait to hear what you think!_


	5. Chapter 4 Temptation

**_Chapter 4_**

It was going to take at least another half hour for Stark to come around, he was still firmly lost in unconsciousness.

After completing her vigorous workout, she headed to the bathroom in order to fix her morning breath. She managed to find a new toothbrush in one of the cabinets.

"Always prepared aren't you, Stark?" she murmured to herself as she carefully put the toothpaste on the brush.

Then, when she had finished her teeth, she quickly refreshed herself by throwing some water on her face before going back to the bedroom.

Taking off Tony's shirt, she dropped it onto the floor and kicked it under the bed. All conversation with Jack had finished a while back. They both knew that Tony would be waking up anytime now.

She slid effortlessly into the bed and laid down, resting her head on Tony's shoulder. Deciding this wasn't enough, she pulled his arms around her so he was holding her, just to make things awkward when he did eventually woke up.

Steph loved causing awkward situation; she thrived in them.

She passed the time by reading a condom packet she had found under her pillow. Did the tooth fairy give this to me? She pondered pointlessly.

To Steph, it seemed like hours, but actually it was only twenty minutes later that Tony's breathing got shallower. After gaining consciousness, he woke up to find Steph laying, i.e. 'sleeping', in his arms, which threw him slightly. He did not recall falling asleep holding her, and besides it wasn't his style.

Gently taking back his arms from Steph's 'sleeping' physique, he tried his best not to wake her. The 'morning after' conversations were always something he tried his best to avoid.

Tony then begun his own recovery effort in retrieving his clothes. Then, from what he had collected, he dressed as quickly and as quietly as he could.

The only thing he could not find was his shirt. He didn't bother looking for it, she might wake up in the time he would look for it.

It was not worth the risk.

Watching him creep towards the door was one of the most amusing things she had seen in a while. Stark thought that he could make a quick escape; not a chance.

She faked a yawn and sat up, making no attempt to cover herself. Stark had already seen her naked; what difference would it make now?

"Morning, Tony," she said as a smile crept up her cheeks.

He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to face her. This was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.

"Uh. . . morning Steph," Seeing her exposed, he averted his eyes. _Do not give into temptation, Tony._ She prolonged the silence in the air for a while longer before asking him how he slept.

"Not bad," he replied. Again, Steph examined the arc reactor, the strange coloured light was still being emitted from it, his weakness centred in the middle of his bare chest.

_Mmm, his bare chest._

His eyes scanned the room, looking at everything but her. The only thing he could think to do, to ease this agonizing awkwardness, was to do something else; finding his shirt.

"Looking for something?" she asked, the devilish grin had not vanished. Reaching over the side of the bed, she grabbed his shirt from underneath. This made the covers fall away, exposing more, if not all, of her body.

Stark's unease was evident and she made no attempt to conceal the smile plastered on her face.

Holding up his shirt, Tony slowly made his way over. As he was about to take it from her, she pulled back slightly. They both held the material, their eyes fixed on each others.

"You know, I'd prefer if you kept it off," His eyebrows shot up, as did his lips.

It wasn't long before Steph had pulled Tony onto the bed and flipped on top of him. He didn't even have time to breathe before Steph had ripped off his pants.

"Steph," Tony murmured. "You do realise my PA is going to be here in less than two minutes,"

"I'll guess we'll have to be quiet then," She replied smiling down at him.

"Seriously, Steph-"

"Shhh-"

"Thing is-" She silenced him with a kiss.

At first he wasn't very responsive, but Steph knew he wouldn't be able to resist for long. She ran her hand through his hair and held his face in her hands, and soon he was kissing her back like there was no tomorrow.

He took hold of her waist. She understood why he liked doing that now. It gave him power.

It wasn't going to work this time though.

She felt him trying to pull her down onto him, but resisted. She refused to let him take control again.

She pulled away from the kiss.

"No," she told him. "This time I'm in charge."

Before Tony had a chance to reply she'd reached down and grabbed him. All he could do was moan in response.

Steph smiled in satisfaction. She'd be in control, for a little while at least. It just depended on how long he could hold off for, or how slowly she decided to build things up. She was thinking very slow, painfully slow, as revenge for what had happened the first time round.

She moved herself into a better position. Wrapping her fingers around him, she let her hands, very slowly, work their magic.

"Go faster, Steph."

She ignored him and kept her pace slow and torturous. Stark, being impatient, put his own hand on top of hers, trying to speed things up a little.

"Don't," she warned.

He didn't move his hand off of hers. With her other hand she tried to pull his away and when he didn't move she sunk her fingernails into his skin.

He moved his hands away almost immediately.

"Shit! That hurt!"

"That's what happens when you don't do as you're told."

"That seems kinda unfair." he pouted, already sulking like a toddler.

She rolled her eyes as she smirked. "Okay. You want fast? Here's fast."

She knew Tony had been doing his best to keep quiet so far, and he'd done pretty well, but now he'd have no chance.

Her hands were good, but her tongue was something else all together.

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.

These past few days had been rough for Pepper Potts.

All thanks to her boss, Tony Stark, now a superhero.

After his little "I am Ironman" confession, the press went absolutely insane. The past three days have been pure torture.

She automatically went down to Tony's workshop, when she heard no music blaring, she knew something was up.

He wasn't actually there.

"Jarvis? Can you tell me where Mr. Stark is, please?"

Expecting the familiar sound of Jarvis' British accent, she was surprised when she heard nothing.

"Jarvis?" She asked again. Nothing.

"Hmm," she climbed back up the stairs and roamed the place looking for him. Something was up. He _always_ gets up before his little skanks do, last night's one being Stephanie Sexton, urgh, some would say she was even more a whore than Tony was.

He couldn't still be in there with her could he? Slowly she made her way to his bedroom, listening out for any signs of life, or any signs of the world's most loved whores.

Only a few feet from the door, there was only silence.

Without any other option, she opened the door to find, and hear, something she really didn't want to.

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.

Absolutely horrified, she made a quick escape, well as fast as her heels allowed her.

_Let's look at the bright side, at least I know where he is now._

She cursed Jarvis, as she raced down the stairs. Walking back to her desk, she tried to think about overdue paperwork, calls she needed to return, anything other than what she had just witnessed.

In all the years she'd been working for Tony this had never happened, not once. She sat down and switched on the laptop which was on top of her crammed desk, as it loaded she stared at the screen blankly. She'd have to deal with that woman that he'd slept with later, when they had finished.

She held her head in her hands and wondered, not for the first time, why she was still doing this job.

She knew why.

And so did he.

Pepper felt enraged for a few seconds. It had only been a few days ago that Tony had, not so subtly, suggested that she and him became "an item". A few days later and he's back to his old ways; real commitment showed. But she had knocked him back, so really there was no reason why he shouldn't. Maybe she should have just said yes when she'd had the chance.

She shook herself, mentally and physically. This shouldn't matter to her. He was her boss; that was all.

Looking at his list of meetings for the next week, she remembered how things were beyond busy at the moment, after Tony's little announcement. Today had two meetings at S.H.I.E.L.D., which she hadn't even mentioned to him yet, it had slipped her mind.

Tony didn't realise how much trouble he'd caused. He wasn't the one who had to trawl through the hundreds of emails, answer the awkward questions, deal with damage control. Oh, almost forgot, having to leave for work fifty minutes early just to trudge through van after van from news stations and all of the reporters that came with them.

That was all _her_ job.

She opened her inbox, dreading the amount of messages she'd have today. An error message flashed across the screen, **inbox full**, it stated. Opening it she saw 5,000 emails, a cringing site without a doubt, this didn't include all of the one's she didn't get round to dealing with yesterday.

By nature Miss Pepper Potts was a systematic person. Before she read any of the emails she'd sort them into folders according to the subject and who they were from. She attempted to begin this, somewhat, daunting task, but it was impossible this morning; she couldn't concentrate.

"I so need a pay rise," she thought as she switched the laptop on to standby. There was no point even attempting to do anything constructive at the moment; she needed to clear her mind and a nice black coffee with no milk and two sugars, might just do the trick.

.

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.

.

They were on the floor. Steph couldn't recall how they'd got there, only that it was Tony's fault. He was trying to take control again.

She was on top again.

"I am going to ride you Stark, if it's the last thing I do."

He smiled. "Is that right?"

Then all of a sudden she was looking up at him.

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

He pulled her leg up so he could penetrate her more easily.

"Don't you fucking dare," Steph threatened.

"Or what?"

He pushed himself into her.

"Fuck you, Stark." She whispered breathily, digging her fingernails into his shoulders.

He stopped momentarily.

"What is it with you and fingernails?"

She smiled.

"I'm not afraid to hurt you ,Tony."

He smiled back.

"Worth it."

She could already feel her body starting to give up on her. Her body didn't want to fight him.

_Just let him do the work Steph. He knows how to give you what you want, what you need. You know he'll do it well._

"God damn it no!"

She was not going to let him do this to her. He was not going to take control of her.

Her hands were around his neck, fingernails digging into him. He pulled out of her, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands away.

"Fucking hell, Steph. What the hell are trying to do? Going for the jugular or something?"

Her head threw back as she chuckled, sitting up next to him while he tried to catch his breath.

Allow him to recover, just a little bit, and then pounce.

That was her plan.

Catching him off guard, she pushed him back, onto the floor, climbing on top of him.

"My turn."

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.

.

Stark collapsed on the bed, his breathing far beyond normal. He doesn't recall how they got back up again, was it even possible?

"Oh. My God," he breathed, his eyes fixed to the ceiling. "That. Was. . ."

"Absolutely fucking incredible?" Steph finished the sentence off for him, not only could she tell what he was going to say, but she didn't have the patience to listen. To. Him. Say. It.

If you catch my drift.

"Yeah. That," She wasn't exactly surprised at his reaction.

"That. Was. The. Best," Steph raised her eyebrows and a satisfied grin swept across her cheeks.

"Wasn't it?" He asked her, still staring at the ceiling, a good thing too or he would have seen Steph's startled face.

She didn't reply, for her it wasn't the best, not by a long shot.

"You're telling me that wasn't the best sex you have ever had?"

"You know, Tony, us Brits, we like being honest and well. . ."

"What?"

"That wasn't the best,"

"Excuse me?"

"That wasn't the best," she repeated. A shocked Tony wasn't able to reply, it was a stifling blow to his ego.

"Do you want me to apologise or something?" Steph asked when he still didn't say anything.

"If that wasn't the best, then what was?"

"When I lost my virginity."

"To whom, may I ask?"

She laughed, "Like I'm going to tell you," Not to mention I don't even know myself, she thought in her head.

"You mind if I borrow your shower?" How effortless it must be for her to steer the conversation into any direction she wanted.

"No, go right ahead," She stole his shirt to cover herself as she made her way to the bathroom.

"Steph?"

She stopped. "Yeah."

"How did you get those scars?"

Her 'battlescars' were from the life at MI6, each one came from a different mission, a different inflicter, a different weapon. Some were burns, others healed stab wounds and a couple of gunshot wounds as well. Some were even self-inflicted.

In all the magazines, you couldn't see the scars too well, if at all, you had to see them right up close, in person.

She'd been wondering when he was going to ask.

She smiled. Her response was the same one she used every time. It was surprising what men would believe.

"Rough sex, Tony, you should try it sometime."

He raised an eyebrow "You're into the whole 'pain' and 'torture' thing?"

She laughed. "I thought you would have figured that out by now." She headed towards the bathroom and stopped just before entering. "Tony, as long as it's sex, I'm into it."

He had nothing to say to that.

She must love it more than he did; a hell of a lot more in fact.

As she went into the bathroom and closed the door, she murmured, "Pfft, genius, yeah up my arse."

It took Tony a while to recover before he finally made it out of bed and dressed in an entirely new attire. He chose some dark jeans and a long sleeved maroon coloured top.

"Crazy Brit."

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**_Thankyou for your support. _**

**_Can't wait to hear what you think. _**


	6. Chapter 5 Let's Ride

**_Chapter 5_**

After using up all of the shampoo and conditioner in the shower, she exited the bathroom, surprised to see Stark pacing the room.

"Tony?" she asked, grabbing his attention. His eyes met hers as he stopped and turned to face her. They almost automatically slid down to her wet body, which was covered by white towel.

To his dismay, he looked back up to her.

Stark wasn't very good with the 'morning after' crap, normally he'd be safe in his workshop while Pepper handles the mess he creates the night before.

He sighed at the thought of Pepper, the guilt resurfacing.

"I-I was, erm, wondering where my shirt went?" Steph was amused by his flushed cheeks, embarrassed Stark? Fuck, it's almost better than innocent Stark.

She ventured back into the bathroom, a giggle escaped her as she scooped up the shirt. Holding it out to him, she immediately thought of a repeat of earlier.

_But I've just showered!_

"Can't I keep it as a souvenir?" she joked as she handed it to him.

As he took the shirt, she didn't pull back, only grinned at him.

"Well I need to, erm, work now." His feet shifted awkwardly, he didn't know what to do with himself.

She bathed in his awkwardness, each second was more hilarious than the last.

"Of course you do," Steph turned and retrieved her bra that had found a home on the bed. "The world needs a lot of saving," she muttered, sneaking a look back at him. The relief on his face was probably the clearest she had ever seen in her life.

Tony nearly sprinted out of the room, closing the door behind him.

_Should I feel offended? _

She thought to herself as she went on a mini-scavenger hunt for her strewn clothes, coat and bag. Sexton climbed down the stairs, her attention stuck to the I-pod and which she would listen to next.

"The music is pretty good, Jack," she was referring to the selection of songs that would be played at the Cherry Dust.

Choosing Predator by Collide, she stretched out her arms and shoulders, entering the sleek black kitchen. Her stomach rumbled conveniently as she eyes up the threshold of food. She raided the cupboards, searching for some breakfast.

"Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Boo Berry, what the fuck? Urgh,"

"Is there anything normal here?" her eyes locked onto a cereal box that resembled cornflakes. She placed them on the counter and grabbed the other necessities - milk from the fridge, spoon from the cutlery draw and bowl from the cabinet.

Munching away on the cereal, she was merely satisfied at the taste, telling Jack they were too sugary.

"So what am I up to today?"

"You need to sort out the set at the Cherry Dust."

"Haven't I already decided what it was?"

"Only three times," she laughed at that.

"Can't help it! I want it to be perfect."

"It's not as if you're going to be there long anyway."

"I still want to make an impression on the yanks, you know, good old Brit partying, i.e. binge drinking and earsplitting karaoke."

"Please tell me there won't be-"

"Are you insulting my singing skills?"

"Well, no, but-"

"But what?"

"I know you hate singing in front of people."

"True, but if I'm absolutely smashed out of my mind..."

"I hate to admit, but you have a valid point there."

"Don't I always?"

"Of course you do," his sarcasm too thick to ignore.

"There won't be any karaoke, but I'm thinking of having a free bar from midnight, or something..."

"Bribing them with booze? Clever."

"Aren't I?"

"You seem to be fishing for compliments more than usual this morning." He paused. "You okay?"

"Mmmhmm," she replied with a mouth full of cereal. "Little bit annoyed, though."

"At yourself?"

"Yeah! I could be at home right now, eating real cornflakes!" she whined. In response, Jack rolled his eyes.

.

.

.

.

Resentment rolled off of Pepper Potts like a tidal wave as she gulped down the coffee, no milk with four sugars. She told herself that doubling the amount of sugar would help, it did, a little.

Her attempt at blocking the images had failed. But she had managed to erase the sounds from her memory.

_It's better than nothing._

Walking down the stairs to his workshop was a complete nightmare, all she could see, all she could fucking see. . .

She stood there, debating whether to flee back up the stairs or face the playboy. Stark looked up from his computer, wondering why Pepper hadn't already bossed him about.

"Morning, Pepper," he said, though it sounded more of a question.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark," it took her a while to finally speak, when she finally managed to, the words were slightly shaky like her state of mind.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not at all."

"You sure-"

"Here are your messages and you have two meetings at S.H.I.E.L.D. today."

"Two?!"

"Yes, one to be debriefed and one with Nick Fury."

Then she placed the coffee down on the desk, not even handing it to him._ I refuse to touch those hands!!_

"You sure there's nothing wrong?"

"N-Nothing, I haven't got time to talk Mr. Stark-"

"Tony."

"I need to do some serious damage control, you know after you decided to tell the whole world you're Ironman, even though-"

"Pepper-"

"Even though I told you not."

The guilt was about to drown Stark, but anger emerged as if in defense. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took in a deep breathe in attempt to calm him.

"Pepper, lying was the problem in the first place and I-. . . I can't do this anymore."

"Okay, Mr. Stark."

"First, it's Tony, second-"

"I have a lot of work to do."

She quickly raced back up the stairs leaving Stark completely stunned. Never had she run out on him like that.

Pepper tried to collect herself, tried to keep her professional image intact. This failed as she let out a loud sigh, recalling that she had to "get rid of the trash", today's being British.

"...free bar from midnight." What the hell?

Moving towards the noise, she recognised the voice to be female and with a British accent.

_Was the skank talking to herself?_

_Crazy Brit.  
_

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.

Reaching the kitchen, a petite ginger-haired woman appeared in a smart black business suit with her hair tied in a secure bun.

"Miss Virginia Potts." Jack was so useful sometimes. "Likes to be called Pepper."

"Miss Potts, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Holding out her hand, Steph greeted her warmly and firmly shook quite a reluctant hand.

As evident as Tony's relief was Pepper's surprise.

"N-Nice to meet you to." She quickly gathered herself. The British sure are polite, she thought in her head as she smiled back in return.

Another silence hung stiff in the air; Steph's grin did not fade.

_Urgh, please God, if you're up there, let her hands be clean._

"I simply adore your shoes!"

Pepper blushed as she thanked her.

"I swear you have_ the _best shoes ever."

She blushed again and shifted uncomfortably.

"Well I wouldn't say that," she replied, her eye contact not quite meeting Steph's.

"Of course, but I'm sure you know it."

Pepper protested after a quick smile she gave her, she tried to uphold her modesty.

"Oh, come on, don't be afraid to flaunt!"

Flaunting anything was probably something she wouldn't ever dare to do, something she would detest. She wondered how Steph could possibly do that without being incredibly self-conscious every second.

"Not every can flaunt it as shamelessly as you do, Miss Sexton." Pepper's tone was not polite anymore.

"Do I take that as an insult, Miss Potts?"

"Take it anyway you wish, Miss Sexton."

"Compliment it is!"

An silence ensued, as did an exchange of polite smiles.

"There's a car waiting for you outside, it will take you wherever you wish,"

"Even hell?" she laughed at her own joke, but quickly ceased as Pepper's professional smile, slowly drained from her expression.

"Oh well-" she continued only to be interrupted by Jack.

"Can you go to the lounge please?"

She quickly excused herself from Potts, who was left quite dazed and confused.

"Turn right," he directed her to the window and told her to look out of it.

She did as he said to find an electric green Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R with_ Sex_ slashed across the sides, a brand new motorcycle with a bright crimson ribbon tied around it. Without meaning to, she squealed, the machine was absolutely beautiful.

She raced out of Stark's house and immediately untied the ribbon as she reached the Ninja. There was a small scarlet envelope on the seat with her name elegantly written on, Jack's script.

_Steph, _

_Hope you like it!_

_Jack xxx_

_P.S. Check under the seat._

She uncovered a one-piece leather motorcycle suit with Sexton written on the back_;_ it was bright lime green and white, matching the bike perfectly.

Again she squealed, her excitement bubbling over.

"Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!" she squeaked clapping her hands together. She grabbed the gear, which included the main suit, a full-face helmet, boots, gloves, knee and shin protectors, a harness including back, chest and shoulder protectors and also a rib protector, and made her way back to the house.

"Okay, I would hug you right now if I could."

"I guess you'll have to save it for me."

"Oh, don't worry Jack, I will." He laughed nervously, not quite sure what to say. Steph had already shot through the kitchen past Pepper and sat down on Stark's sofa, admiring the waterfall cascading down the glass wall by the stairs.

Pepper, not knowing what to do, went to her office, hoping the problem would sort itself out.

Steph kicked off her high heels and put on the front harness first, along with the rib protector, then she put on the lime and white leather one piece over her dress.

It fit like a dream. Now this is perfection, she thought as she zipped up the back.

Then she put on the green boots, that had white stripes running down them.

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.

.

A green and white figure flashed past his vision.

"Can I help you?" Stark asked, unsure of who or what the figure was.

Steph walked to him and took off her helmet.

"Steph?"

"Yeah. Look Tony, I gotta run, see ya."

"Woo, hold on, what are you wearing?"

"Motorcycle gear, what else does it look like?"

She continued her walk towards the front door and put her helmet back on, slapping down the front.

"You drive a motorcycle?" he asked, confusion took him. _Since when did whores have the ability to ride bikes?_ She pulled up the front again to respond.

"Yeah, a ninja." She left the front door open as she walked out, towards her bike.

"What?"

"That's my ninja," she said, pointing to the Kawasaki.

"There are some riding glasses under the seat by the way," Jack said.

"Ooh! Thanks, Jack."

"Wait, hold on, who's Jack?"

"My ninja," she said getting out the glasses and putting them on. Then, she mounted the bike from the left side and put the keys in the ignition.

"What?"

"Look, I would have hitched a ride from your Audi, but frankly, the Ninja is better."

"Hey! Don't insult the R8!"

"Are you trying to get him to race?" Jack asked her.

"Clearly, Jack," she answered.

"Excuse me?"

"Jack knows he is better than your Audi." Stark gave her another confused yet slightly worried look.

_Did I just sleep with a crazy Brit?_

"You wanna bet on that?" he asked, the competitiveness from last night filled his veins.

"Okay, winner gets to be on top."

"You're on. Name a destination."

"My place, the Cherry Dust." She fired up the engine, giving it some welly to warm it up.

"You know where that is right?" she continued.

"I'll find it." He started to retreat to the workshop.

"Hurry up! Jack wants to race!"

"You mean you want to race," Jack corrected her.

"Hey, its good practice." Slapping down the front, she played around with the heads up display.

"Can you get me some info on Stark's R8."

"Sure." Typing and clicking ensued. "Customised by himself, top speed 210mph, over 8,000 horse power, 5204 cc, V10 engine, weight 1620kg-"

"How fast can Jack go?"

"200, with a dry tank."

"Hmm, this will be good."

Stark emerged in his R8 and whizzed past her.

The bike lurched forward as she released the clutch and kicked the gear up to third.

"Let's ride, Jack."

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**_Go check out the prologue. _**

**_If you've already reviewed on Chapter 1- just PM us your thoughts - it would be very much appreciated!  
_**

**_Also, check out our trailer for Deception on Youtube. - watch?v=aNfcH_HS744_**

**_All of our lovely reviewers are included in the trailer and we'd like to thankyou for giving us your time!_**

**_It really means a lot!_**

**_:D_**_ Hope you had a nice Chrismas and a great New Year! Much love.  
_


	7. Chapter 6 Morning Stubble

**_Chapter 6_**

'Jack' chased after Stark down his mile long driveway. The R8 whizzed past the swarm of paparazzi being held back by Stark's bodyguards and local police officers .

Steph decided to give the press a good picture, so she slowed as she approached them, coming to a complete stop.

"What are you doing, Steph?" Jack asked, even though he knew what she was doing.

"Giving them a nice picture!" She took off her helmet and popped out her chest, pouting at the flashing cameras.

They were going mental as per usual. The story of the world's two most famous whores finally having sex with each other would be huge.

Without a doubt.

The last three days had simply been 'Is Tony Stark really Iron Man?'. People were getting bored of that unanswered question. Although the story of Sexton and Stark wouldn't give them answers, it would at least allow them into the privacy of his life, which they have been completely shut out off for some weeks now, as well as the privacy of London's very own rich bitch.

Satisfied, she put the helmet back on, turning on the headset and released the clutch with her gloved left hand.

"Left," Jack told her, as she approached the end of the driveway. "I'm transmitting the directions to you now."

"You have cameras on here, yeah?"

"Yep, I can see that ugly mutt of yours."

"Oi!" Jack laughed in bittersweet irony, how far it was from the truth.

"Do you have a webcam handy?"

"Erm, why?"

"Just wanted to see how that bruise is healing up."

"It's fine," he said immediately.

"Remind me how you got that?"

"You know, Steph."

"I forgot."

"No."

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"I bumped into the landing skids," he sighed as she giggled at him. Jack was referring to the landing skids of the 1978 Westland Lynx Helicopter, currently being restored in their basement.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. You really should stop working on that thing. I told you that it's cursed! You seriously need to give up-"

"I will restore it, Steph, however long it takes, I will, regardless of the bruises."

Jack had been working on that helicopter ever since moving into Steph's house. He had never really admitted to moving in, but in reality Steph's house was his home.

"Right," Steph replied, hearing his sigh. "You set the camera up yet?"

"Nearly, give me a sec." She passed three cars, outrunning them like lightning outrunning thunder.

"Hello." He waved towards the webcam in his pajamas and sipped on a cup of coffee. Jack wore a long sleeved white t-shirt with pale blue trousers, his hair was unkempt and loose.

"Let me see," Steph asked. She could see him in the corner of the helmet's screen. The image was very clear and focused, as if she was actually looking at him.

Jack moved towards the camera, turning his head to the left, the bruise slightly purple but very faint. It would be gone in a few days.

"Healing up well, actually."

He sipped on some more coffee before telling her to take the next left. She whizzed past a police car parked on the shoulder, the officers inside too lazy to chase after her, they knew they could never catch someone at those speeds.

"You really need to shave, Jack."

The Ninja raced down the Californian highway, its speed over 100mph. Steph was heading directly into a car dead ahead, but she was too busy inspecting Jack's face to notice.

"Mind the car!" Jack shouted, nearly spitting his coffee all over the screens.

She managed to avoid the car, but only by a few feet, the sweet adrenaline rush energised her muscles.

"Bloody hell, that was close," she replied casually, giggling off the near death experience.

"Maybe you should concentrate on the road rather than my morning stubble." Steph laughed at his words.

"But Jack! Nothing is more important than your morning stubble."

"Including your life?"

"Obviously!" Jack rolled his eyes and tied his hair back into a small ponytail, as was custom when he was concentrating on something, this one being keeping Steph alive.

Seeing as she was incapable.

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.

.

"Oh come on, Jarvis, this is ridiculous. Have you got a virus or something?" Tony said looking at the route that had been mapped out on the satellite navigation system.

"This is the shortest route to your destination, Sir."

His eyes were back on the highway, the R8 was nearing maximum speed and Stark was irritated by the cars ahead, thus making him slow as he avoided them.

"Clearly, it isn't. This is like flying to New York to get a plane to Mexico. Anyway, where have you been all morning?"

"All systems were temporarily shut down, Sir."

That really took Tony by surprise, although Jarvis had been messing up the past couple of days, due to Nick Fury's interference, the A.I. had never once completly shut down throughout its entire existance.

"All systems were. . . " he began to repeat, making sure he'd heard Jarvis correctly, but something on the GPS screen caught his attention.

"What the hell is this?" Stark asked pointing at a large area that had been mapped out in red. The suggested route on the sat-nav had avoided this area.

"That is Edwards Air Base, Sir," Jarvis replied.

"It's that big?" Tony had been to the place many times, back in the days of weapon manufacturing. He'd never realised that the base took up such a vast area of land.

"What's to stop me from driving through there?" Tony asked. He was pretty sure he could beat Steph, after all California was his home, but he wanted to make sure.

Stephanie Sexton seemed to be full of surprises.

"You're not authorised to do that, Sir," Jarvis said, answering his question, "Though I assume that is not reason enough to stop you."

Tony smiled, "Hell no!"

he smile faded as he concentrated on passing two trucks that were side by side, both traveling at the same speed. Jarvis told him that the R8 was too wide for it to squeeze through, but Tony stubbornly beeped the horn at the two large vehicles. The familiar feeling of power and victory filled his gut as they both moved over, allowing him to pass through.

"Call Rhodey," Stark told the A.I. after saluting the two truck drivers.

"Of course, Sir."

.

The last person James Rhodes wanted to hear from this morning was Tony Stark.

The problem with Tony was that he only ever worked to his own schedule, and usually that conflicted with everyone elses, so Rhodes was half expecting a call from him anyway. Whether he would take it or not he had still not decided.

Tony had left without warning Rhodes to collect his award, which, with his fear of public speaking, was not one of his favourite things to do. He hadn't even had anytime to prepare.

Consequently, he'd got absolutely smashed last night. The hangover he was currently suffering he could thank Tony for.

The picture he'd received on his cell phone this morning had lightened his mood slightly. He assumed it was from the slut Tony left with last night, although he couldn't trace a number.

No doubt she stayed the night.

He preferred her sense of humour to Tony's.

He walked into the control room and had just taken a seat when his cell phone started to ring - Tony.

Rhodey let it ring for a while, feeling like he was getting some sort of revenge. Normally he'd pick up almost immediately, and, although he knew that having to wait a few extra seconds wouldn't bother Stark, he felt a small sense of satisfaction.

"What do you want?" he said, picking up the call.

"Rhodey, I need a favour."

No apologies then.

Not that he'd really been expecting one. Stark had no shame - asking him for a favour after just abandoning him the night before.

"You've been asking me for a lot of favours lately."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"What did I do wrong now?" he asked. Last night had not even crossed his mind.

"Oh come on, Tony! Don't give me that crap." Tony smiled when he realised what Rhodey was annoyed about.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No. You know how much I love public speaking."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He hadn't even thought about that. He knew his apology didn't sound very sincere but he didn't have time for this. He was fast approaching the air base.

"Anyway, about that favour. . ."

"I'll keep the skies clear Tony, but you know I can't keep doing this, right?" Rhodes had only given in that easily, because he knew he could get Tony back at a later date, and besides, whether he decided to help him or not, he knew Tony would just go ahead anyway.

In truth, he was more worried about what would happen to his pilots than Tony.

"I wouldn't bother," Tony told him.

"What?"

"I wouldn't bother keeping the skies clear, but letting me drive through the air base, that would be more useful."

"And why would you want to do that?"

"Well, I'm planning on winning a race."

Rhodey shook his head, "Race against who?"

"Sexton."

"What?" Sexton didn't seem like the driving type, let alone the racing type.

"I'm racing Stephanie Sexton."

"She races?"

"Uh huh, she's got a Ninja."

"She's got a what?"

"A Ninja,"

"What?!"

"A Ninja, a bike, idiot."

"Wait, you're telling me that Stephanie Sexton is a biker?" That he couldn't believe.

"Look, can you stop asking questions. Are you gonna let me through or not?"

Rhodey still couldn't believe the last piece of information Tony had told him. Stephanie Sexton, racing? On a motorcycle?

"Rhodey?"

"What if I say no?"

"I'll do it anyway. I am not losing this race."

"What if you get shot at?" Images of the R8 plagued with bullet holes flashed across his mind.

"And why would you do that?"

"Maybe I want Sexton to win."

"Oh, so that's what this is about?"

"Tony, what are you on about?" He could hear the amusement in his voice.

"You know, I really don't think she's your type."

"What?"

"She's rough. Very rough."

"Wait, you think I-"

Tony laughed, "So you gonna let me through?"

"You own me, you son of a bitch."

.

.

.

California was a fun place to ride; more fun than London, where it was inevitable that you'd be held up in traffic sooner or later.

Usually sooner.

In Steph's opinion, the congestion charge had achieved nothing except putting more money in the major's already bulging pockets.

The money didn't matter, it was the principle.

Really, it wasn't fair comparing an entire state to one city. Besides there were plenty of things she preferred about London.

The weather for one thing.

She was more suited to the cooler, more temperate climate of London. The sun was fine for a day or two, but to live in the unbearable Californian heat? She didn't know how anyone could do it. She was already missing the cool damp London air.

She sighed, rounding a bend in the road.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked her, concerned after hearing the sigh.

"I've just found a major advantage of cars over bikes in California," she told him looking at the vast open planes of California.

There was no sign of shade anytime soon, and the leather riding suit wasn't helping her rising body temperature. Let alone the harness and the extra protection Jack insisted she wear.

The suit's breathing holes along the shoulders, spine and thighs weren't really doing their justice.

"And what's that?" Jack questioned. She could tell he was eating, even though she couldn't see him anymore, by the noises he was making. Jack crunched on his cornflakes, slurping the milk on the spoon.

Hearing Steph eat the cereal earlier tempted him to do the same. The cornflakes, he noted, were perfect and had little, if any, sugar.

"Air conditioning," she said, answering his question. He laughed in response. He had been wondering when she was going to complain about the heat.

"And Jack."

"Yeah."

"Don't speak with your mouth full. It's disgusting." He rolled his eyes.

"It's not like you can see me." He'd switched the webcam off after her first near miss, not that it had made much difference to her riding. She was determined to ride dangerously regardless.

"Yeah, that's another point. How is that fair, at all?"

He frowned. "How is what fair?"

"You can see me, but I can't see you."

"I was just trying to keep you alive, but fine," he said, switching the webcam back on, his face flashing back up on her screen again. The only reason he hadn't put up a fight was because he was convinced that having the cam on would make little to no difference to her riding anyway.

She still wasn't happy. Bon Jovi's 'Have a Nice day' blared through the internal speakers of the helmet. "Why the hell is Bon Jovi on? I don't even like Bon Jovi."

"You did three minutes ago," Jack mumbled, stopping the music. Her bad mood was already starting to get on his nerves.

_Please tell me she's not going to be like this for the rest of the journey._

"What was that, Jack?"

"Nothing."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing, Mistress. What music would best please you?"

She couldn't help but smile; Jack's heart fluttered at the beautiful sight. "Sorry. The heat's making me irritable."

"I figured."

"You mean I figured, Mistress."

She saw Jack rolling his eyes. "Uh huh."

"Seriously Jack," she told him. "You've started something so you're now obliged to go through with it."

"Right," he replied, ignoring that comment. "What music did you want me to put on?"

"Jack, if you don't start calling me Mistress, I'm gonna have to punish you when I get back!" she joked, accelerating past another vehicle.

"Punish me?" he laughed, "Uh huh, sure."

"You really want to try me? Honestly, you should see some of the things I've got under my bed."

An awkward silence ensued. They had got to the forbidden subject.

Sex.

"Can you put the pink iPod on, please?"

"Sure."

There was complete and utter silence as Jack looked for the iPod and then plugged it in, setting it on shuffle. The silence was broken only by the music. But the agonising awkwardness remained.

.

.

.

Tony was speeding through the airbase, feeling more than a little pleased with himself.

"I've won," he thought aloud.

"There is still an estimated twenty minutes until you arrive at your destination, Sir," Jarvis reminded him.

"Yeah, but how long would it have taken if I'd had to go round the air base?" he said. It was a rhetorical question, but he wasn't surprised that Jarvis came back with an answer.

"An estimated thirty-five minutes."

Tony smiled thinking about how far behind Stephanie must be. Steve Harwell's 'You'll Never Catch Me' blasted through the speakers.

"Exactly." He turned up the music, already enjoying the sweet taste of his pre-conceived victory. Stark smiled remembering her words 'winner gets to be on top'.

He couldn't help laughing.

Sorry, Miss Sexton, but you are most definitely bottoming.

_You'll never catch me.  
Though you think you can.  
You'll never catch me.  
Not a single touch.  
I'll leave you all behind._

He wondered is he'd be upset if he lost this race. It would only be his ego that suffered. Sex with Stephanie Sexton was mind blowing either way.

The song faded into silence as Jarvis interrupted his thoughts.

"You have an incoming call, Sir."

"Who is it?"

"Miss Potts." He sighed hearing her name. The familiar guilt was back once more.

"Would you like to take the call, Sir?" He paused for a second before replying, "Yes."

"Tony?" he heard Pepper's slightly concerned voice asked.

"Hey, Pepper," he replied casually.

"Tony, where are you?"

"I, um, I just. . . I decided to go for a drive."

"You decided to. . . a drive. Right."

"Were you worried about me?" he asked in all seriousness.

"No." That was a bare faced lie. "It's just you should have told me that you'd gone out."

"So, you were worried?"

"No. I just thought you'd let me know that you were going."

"It was a spur of the moment thing." Neither of them spoke for a moment. He just wanted her to say it. She'd admitted it before, what had changed now?

"Come on, Pepper, just admit it, you were worried."

"Mr. Stark, you have two meetings today and to be honest you don't have time to be-"

He interrupted her. "You went down to the workshop and checked that the armour was still there, didn't you?" There was silence again. That had been the first thing she'd done when she'd realised that Tony had gone.

Again she cursed Jarvis for not responding and informing her of his whereabouts.

Pepper had been more than worried about him, she'd been absolutely petrified, but she would not admit it to him.

Her stomach was in knots, only untangled by the sound of his voice. Her intense worrying made her muscles shake in fear. Her lungs had tightened, breathing became a chore, painful and tiring.

She would not admit to caring about him again.

Never.

The silence was a good enough answer for Tony and he sat back in his seat, smiling. She was crazy about him, and she could try and hide it as much as she liked, but he knew it.

"Tony," Pepper said, ignoring his previous question, "You really need to get ready."

"Yeah, yeah, after this race," he said thoughtlessly.

"Race?" Pepper questioned, her heart flipping. She hated how casual he was.

"Did I say race? I mean drive. After this drive."

"Tony, what are you-"

"Pepper. Can we talk about this when I get back?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Great. See you later," he told her, ending the call.

.

.

.

They had both sat solemnly through the whole of 'Sex on The Beach'. Steph had almost wanted to laugh when the song started, but the serious expression on Jack's face had prevented her from doing so.

These situations with Jack were probably the only times she ever really felt awkward. She wondered what he was thinking. Was he ashamed of her? Ashamed of his best friend who slept around?

Jack had always had more morals than her.

Probably because he got brought up properly.

She'd been aware that both her parents were cheating on each other since she was thirteen years old. She knew that they'd never loved her, but she thought, or maybe hoped, that they loved each other and that they were happy together.

It was only an illusion; an illusion that was smashed into a million pieces when she found her father fucking another woman on the kitchen floor and her mother tonguing some guys balls in her own bedroom.

She considered herself a step up from that. She'd never tried to convince anyone that she was in love with them, [truthfully she had never fallen in love] only to lie and cheat on them, sleeping with other men behind their backs.

What was the point?

Sexton liked sex and was not going to deny it. Easy, no strings attached, no broken hearts, no lies, no pain. Sex was what she desired and to be honest she couldn't see the problem with that, and she couldn't understand why it bothered Jack, although she would probably never ask him.

The subject had been avoided for so long, that it would be too weird, too awkward to bring up now.

The song ended and even though they were thousands of miles apart from each other they both felt the tension between them decrease dramatically.

Jack had been through the entire of the last song trying to push various emotions and thoughts to the back of his mind, the prominent one being anger.

He'd been desperately hoping for her to break the silence but at the same time, fiercely dreading talking to her again.

For the past couple of minutes, he'd been staring down at his hands, not even able to look at her on the screen. The truth was that he was more than a little curious as to what exactly was under her bed. This curiousity helped the rage subside.

Hearing the familiar introduction to 'Burning Down The House' by Talking Heads he could not help but grin and look up at the screen where Steph imitated his smile.

The memory of them being at Cambridge University flooded both of their minds.

.

.

_._

_"I love this song!" She handed Jack an earpiece as she clicked on her MP3, turning it up close to full volume._

_They had just completed a three hour exam on micro-electronics; Jack was dumbfounded by her renewed energy, all he wanted to do was sleep for the next twelve hours._

_'Burning Down The House' by Talking Heads blasted through the earphone, Jack was reluctant to put it anywhere near his ear. Going deaf wasn't one of his priorities, but telling Steph how beautiful her eyes looked when she was happy. . ._

_"Can you turn it down a tad?" he asked as he held open the door for her. They were the first out of the lecture hall. Steph's impatience was handy at times, this one being that Jack wanted to be anywhere but the lecture hall, preferably a bed. Also that they weren't stuck in the main swarm of students fighting their way towards the exits._

_"It's not even loud!" Jack lengthened his stride in attempt to keep up with her. She started to sing along with the song's lyrics._

_"Watch out. You might get what you're after. Cool babies. . ." He watched her in awe as she pouted, jutting out her head in time with the beat._

She looks like an idiot.

_A laugh escaped him, capturing her attention._

_"What?" she asked, momentarily pausing her head bobbing._

_Jack imitated her, but exaggerated, jutting out his arms as well as his neck._

_"Hey!" her irritation couldn't stick as she giggled at his impression._

_"It's the song! It does weird things to me."_

_"Oh, I know. I did have the misfortune to witness it." She rolled her eyes, the wide smile still plastered on her cheeks._

_This grin quickly vanished as another student bumped into her shoulder, knocking out the earpiece._

_"Oi!" she turned to see two males walking away from her. They had to be at least five years older than her._

_The two male students sniggered as they ignored her shouts._

Stupid bitch thinks she knows everything.

_"Hey!" she shouted once more, this time louder and with more aggression._

_"Steph, come on, don't waste your time on those pricks."_

_"You saw what they did!"_

_"I don't think they meant to-"_

_"They did, Jack, on-fucking-purpose!!" He pulled her arm, trying to dissuade her._

_"They aren't worth it, Steph."_

_"They deserve black fucking eyes."_

_"Steph, come on, they're what? Twice your size?!" She was quick to pursue, solely concentrating on ways to kick their arses and not on the MP3 she had just dropped._

_Jack retrieved her MP3 and also picked up her bag which she had just thrown on the ground._

_"Steph! I didn't mean it like that!" He continued as he gained no response. "Hey! Wait up!"_

_He chased after her, trying to discourage the trouble she was about to get herself into. Jack knew she couldn't be reasoned with as she pulled up her sleeves._

_"Hey!" The two students both looked at her, coming to a halt._

_"What the fuck was that?!" she questioned, expecting a logical reason as to why one of them bumped into her._

_They responded by sniggering again._

_"The pathway was what? Eight foot wide?!"_

_"Steph, come on, don't waste your time, let's go," he spoke to her in hushed tones, so that the others couldn't hear him._

_"They need to be taught a fucking lesson!!!" The two guys both burst into hysterics, both holding onto each other for support as they laughed._

_"Y-You think you can beat us up!?" one of them asked, causing the other to laugh even more._

_"I know I can." Her tone turned deadly as she replied._

_Then, she launched herself at one of them, tackling him down to the ground. Their hysteria quickly turned silent._

_Steph kneed him in the groin, causing him to screech in pain. She turned her attention to the second target, getting off of the first, she kicked him in the stomach._

_The air escaped him, he clutched his sides, gasping for oxygen. A swift uppercut to the chin knocked him to the floor, joining his companion as they writhed in pain._

_She took in her victory for a few moments, before turning and approaching Jack. He was frozen in shock, unable to comprehend how this sixteen year old at 5'4 and what? 120 pounds was able to take down two fully grown male adults._

_Retrieving her MP3 and bag, she closed Jack's open mouth with a tap on his chin. Playing the song once more, her head began to jutt out again, just as she was doing before._

_"Don't want to hurt nobody. Some things sure can sweep me off my feet. Burning down the house. . ."_

_**.**_

**_._**

**_._**

_**Sorry it took so bloody long. Personal crisis. [Thanks LadyHawke for the support and for the recommended song 'You'll never catch me'] **_

_**Please forgive us or go ahead and shout at us in a nice review! **_

_**We don't mind :D**_

_**Your thoughts really do mean a lot to us [I know it sounds silly] but they make us so happy. **_

_**Thanks for reading [and reviewing?!?! :P] !!! **_


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